Storage systems store objects in accordance with various corresponding storage architectures. Examples of storage architectures include an object storage, a file system, a block storage, and/or a database. Various types of storage architectures may be implemented for cloud storage or local storage.
Each object within a storage architecture may be associated with data and metadata. Data (also referred to herein as “object data”) includes, for example, information that is used by an end user and/or a business application. As an example, data for a Sales Application may include information about customers, products, and sales. As another example, data for a Human Resources Application may include information about employees, departments, and salaries.
Metadata (also referred to herein as “object metadata”) describes how the data is set up and/or stored. Metadata describes characteristics about the data itself. Metadata may be used to manipulate and/or manage the objects in a storage system. Metadata may indicate, for example, a time at which the object is to be processed. The metadata may specify a time at which a corresponding object is to be deleted, synchronized with other versions of the object, modified, moved to secondary storage, or otherwise processed. The metadata may specify an exact time (e.g., 5 pm) or a time period (e.g., any time after 5 pm, or any time between 5 pm and 7 pm) for processing the object.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.